As the nation celebrates the 143rd birth anniversary of India’s Iron Man, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  inaugurated the giant statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel facing the Narmada Dam, 3.2 km away on the river island called Sadhu Bet near Rajpipla in Gujarat. Standing almost 600 feet tall, it is the world’s tallest statue. The project, begun by the Gujarat government in December 2013, worth Rs 2,989 crores, was won by Larsen and Toubro. Initially, the total cost was estimated to be about Rs 3,001 crores, paid for by the Government of India. Initially, PM Modi flagged it off, to be built by small contributions and crowd-funding, but like all his other projects the means were actually something else. The bronze plates, to create the likeness of Sardar Patel were imported from TQ Art Foundry, a part of the Jiangxi Toqine Company in Nanchang. Hundreds of Chinese workers also toiled at Chad Bet to “assist” L&T in the concrete construction of the statue core.
The statue is as much a bold assertion of Gujarati nationalism as it was to give Narendra Modi a political lineage . After  Modi’s  attempt to claim political lineage from the memory of Sardar Patel, an unseemly argument broke out between the Congress and the BJP over who are the true inheritors of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy. Modi has created the idea that the Congress Party’s preferred leader was the Sardar and that Nehru was imposed on it. Nehru became PM because he was by far the Congress’ most popular politician, after Gandhiji. Nehru was the party’s star campaigner, captivating people with his soaring oratory and easy communication style in Hindustani. 
Patel might have had a firm grip on the Congress organisation, but he was far behind Nehru in popularity and charisma. Patel himself conceded this at a massively-attended Congress rally in Mumbai, when he told the celebrated American author and journalist Vincent Sheean, “They come for Jawahar, not for me.” Patel’s realism was the hallmark of his politics and that made him the perfect foil to Nehru’s idealism. Yet, Patel never got the credit he was supposed to get as a man who unified India. That way the Statue of Unity is a befitting homage to India’s iron Man.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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